1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for ascertaining a location of a particular computer system in physical space.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advancement of technology, today, a network of computer systems can be located in multiple computer data centers spanning a large geographical area. As a result, the health and status of such network of computer systems can be managed and monitored remotely by a system administrator using, for example, a desktop console. Thus, when each computer system can be defined in a different locale, system administrators may be merely aware of the respective logical addresses of each computer system within the hierarchy of hardware components.
Remotely managing a network of computer systems using the logical addresses of the computer systems may have several drawbacks. For instance, currently, computer system failures in a network of computer systems are communicated to the system administrator using network connections. However, because network communications can go down, communicating system failures via the network can be ineffective as the communicated data can be compromised or lost. Depending on the situation, the system administrator may eventually receive a failure notice when the network is up and running. However, by the time the failure notice is received by the system administrator, the system may have been down for an extended period of time, which can result in serious and irreparable damage.
Another limitation currently faced in maintaining the health of the network of computer systems is system administrator's inability to determine the location of a failed system in the physical space. Without knowing the locale of each system, repairing or replacing any of the failed systems can be an impossible task.
Yet another problem faced in managing a network of computer systems is that maintaining an inventory of systems and associated locations can be complex and time-consuming, and for such reason is sometimes not done. Currently, this limitation can be overcome by assignment of bar codes to each of the computer systems and maintaining a data file of the computer systems using the bar codes. The data file may further include a physical map depicting the physical location of each computer system. Any conventional inventory or spatial map can become obsolete when systems get moved around in the data center. Maintaining a spatial map offers no benefit unless the data file or the map is maintained up to date. Unless the data file or the map is updated, the service person is directed to the initial locale of the relocated computer systems upon receipt of a failure notice. As a result, the system administrator as well as the service person in charge of repairing or replacing the computer system will not be aware of the relocation of the system until the service person is actually in the initial locale of the system. In addition to unnecessarily wasting time and human effort, this method of maintaining the map and data file updated can also result in irreparable damage.
One approach to locating objects spanning a wide geographical area is to use radio frequency tags (RFID tags) characterized as an out-of-band localizing method. But, RFID tags cannot be implemented to locate computer systems in the physical space for several reasons. First, RFID data signals can be corrupted by the significant amounts of electromagnetic energy generated in the data centers. Second, implementing radio frequency signals requires using of multiple receivers in different physical locations, unnecessarily increasing costs.
Another approach to locating objects spanning a wide geographical area is to use in-band localizing method wherein data and location information is communicated and stored through the main signaling network. A shortcoming associated with the in-band localizing method is that reliance is placed on the existing network connections. This method also suffers from the drawbacks associated with a break in the network communications, which may result in serious and irreparable damage.
Yet another method to locate objects spanning a wide geographical area is to affix light or other visual objects to servers. This method is also unsatisfactory as only local humans can observe such visual signals. Additionally, the latter method does not allow the creation of a database including the location of the servers or communicating such information to any other electronic device.
Still another solution is to use Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate objects spanning a wide geographical area. This method, however, is unsatisfactory because GPS does not provide the spatial resolution needed to locate objects defined in close proximity as the objects are defined in the data centers. Additionally, GPS cannot provide reliable data regarding objects defined indoors (e.g., within metal building structure).
In view of the foregoing, a need therefore exists in the art for a method and system capable of locating each computer system of a network of computer systems in physical space while minimizing network dependency.